There's No Place Like Home
by jjcrimminds
Summary: She was sweating now, her hair stuck to her forehead. She panted as she clenched her jaw and tried to breathe through the pain. The pool of blood beneath her was still expanding, although slower than before.


**Hey! So I've been working on this one-shot for quite some time now, and I have finally completed it!**

 **This fic doesn't really have an actual storyline. I wrote it with the purpose of showing the interaction between the team, mainly Morgan, and JJ. I also wanted to have JJ get a little more injured, since she's really never been hurt severely on the show before.**

 **I also want to point out that this is not a JJ/Morgan pairing! I have no intention of this being interpreted that way, as in my mind, JJ is completely loyal to Will. This is only a friendship fic.**

 **I will be listing this as a JJ/Morgan focused fic mainly because they have the most interaction. There's a little Morgan/Reid friendship too, but JJ/Morgan is predominant.**

"Morgan, come on! We have to go!" JJ yelled at Morgan, pulling on his sleeve. He was standing still, watching the unsub walking into the tornado, carrying the body that he had assembled. He snapped out of it when he heard JJ yelling at him.

He turned and ran towards the cellar, pulling JJ with him. Reid, the detective, and the victim were already in the cellar.

They had to run in a zigzag-like pattern, trying to avoid debris that was flying around. Morgan reached the cellar first and went down the first couple of steps before turning around to help JJ. She was a few feet behind him, and since she was considerably lighter than Morgan, she had a harder time running in the high speed wind that was getting faster by the minute.

"Come on JJ! You can make it!" Morgan yelled. She was almost to the cellar door when a large piece of fence came flying through the air, heading right for JJ.

Seeing the flying debris, JJ dived forward into the cellar. Luckily, Morgan was ready and caught her light body easily in his arms. He set her down quickly and closed the cellar door, pulling with all his strength.

Morgan blew out a large breath. "Well, that was a close one." He said, turning around. He was shocked to see JJ on the ground, her back against the wall. Her face was ashen and her hands were clenched at her sides.

It was then that everyone noticed the considerably large piece of fencing protruding from her thigh. Reid and Morgan rushed forward. Blood was pouring out of the wound at an alarming rate. "The debris most likely severed her femoral artery." Reid supplied.

Morgan tried to stay calm as he pulled of his jacket and pushed it into the wound around the debris to try to stem the blood flow. JJ hissed is pain at the contact. "Sorry, JJ. You know we gotta do this." He said gently.

JJ nodded, and tried to get her mind of the pain. Reid sat next to JJ and held her hand, trying to offer as much comfort as possible. It didn't help much; the quickly increasing puddle of blood underneath her was certainly worrisome.

Morgan and Reid both saw the puddle, and they knew JJ didn't have long. The wound itself wouldn't kill her, but the blood loss certainly would. "Reid, man. Is there any way we can take this out?" Morgan asked.

Reid shook his head. "Not without damaging her artery more. She's bleeding a lot right now, but if we take the debris out, she'll lose blood even faster."

Morgan swore under his breath. He looked back up to JJ. She was getting paler by the second. She met his gaze. "So, doc. What's the verdict?" She asked, a twinkle in her eye.

Morgan laughed, despite the situation. Leave it up to JJ to joke around when she was on the verge of death. "Well, we can't take it out, otherwise you'll bleed out."

To his surprise, she chuckled. "Well, I'm already bleeding out. You got any other suggestions?" She asked him.

Morgan looked helplessly to Reid. The doctor's brow was furrowed and he looked to be deep in though. All of a sudden, an idea struck him. "We need to sit her up as much as possible. It will slow the blood flow from her heart to her blood vessels, and hopefully slow the bleeding." Reid informed Morgan.

JJ was already sitting up, but she was sort of slouched against the wall of the cellar. Morgan and Reid each grabbed her shoulders and helped her sit up straight against the wall.

JJ gasped as the debris in her thigh shifted slightly. Pain radiated up her leg and all over her body.

Meanwhile, the detective tried to call for someone, but because of the tornado, there was no signal. He turned to Morgan and shook his head.

Morgan saw and swore under his breath. He turned to Reid. "How long will this storm last?"

Reid answered immediately. "Considering the severity of the weather, with this being a F4 tornado, and the velocity of the wind, I'd guess that tornado itself will dissipate in a matter of minutes. The storm itself could last for almost an hour." Reid informed him, not really thinking about the meaning of his words.

A spike of fear rose in Morgan. JJ wouldn't live that long. But he tried to stay positive for her benefit. "Well, I guess all we can do is wait." He said.

Reid opened his mouth to object, but Morgan subtly shook his head. Reid closed his mouth, realizing that telling JJ that she would die from blood loss before they could get help wouldn't help the situation.

JJ panted softly, trying to ignore the pain. She had a high pain threshold, but the feeling of having a piece of wood stuck in her thigh nearly topped anything she'd ever felt.

She felt Morgan and Reid's worried stares, and turned her head to them. "What?" She asked, even though she knew what they were thinking.

They shook their heads simultaneously. "How do you feel?" Morgan asked her, changing the subject.

JJ gave a short laugh. "Well, other than the king sized splinter in my leg, I feel great." She said sarcastically, but not in a mean way. Morgan rolled his eyes. She sure had a sense of humor.

After that, Morgan and Reid settled beside her, Morgan still putting pressure around the debris to try and slow the bleeding.

Luckily, Reid's suggestion had helped a little; the blood flow had slowed some. Reid had also used his belt as a tourniquet by fastening it around her upper thigh.

Thirty minutes passed, and the storm was still raging outside. The wind wasn't as strong as it was before, but there still wasn't any cell service.

JJ tried her best to stay awake, but her eyes were getting heavier by the minute. The blood loss was finally catching up to her.

Morgan saw that JJ's eyes were starting to close. "No JJ, you have to stay awake. You _cannot_ close your eyes, you hear me? You have to stay awake." He said sternly, knowing that if she closed her eyes now, she probably wouldn't ever wake up.

JJ opened her eyes at Morgan's words. But she was _so_ tired. It felt like all of her energy had been depleted, only to leave a lifeless body that just wanted to sleep.

Her eyes started to drift close again. "JJ! Open your eyes. I'm sorry, but you need to stay awake." Morgan's words got no response.

Morgan began to panic. She wouldn't open her eyes. An idea hit him, and his eyes drifted over to JJ's limp body. "I'm sorry." He whispered

Then he pressed down hard on her wound.

JJ's eyes flew open and an agonized scream ripped from her mouth. Her panicked gaze hit Morgan like a ton of bricks. "Please Morgan. Stop. It hurts, it hurts." She wailed, her eyes squeezed shut as the pain soared through her body and lit up her nerves. Tears leaked out of the corner of her eyes.

Morgan watched her with pain filled eyes as he continued to press down hard on her injury. "I'm sorry, JJ. I'm so sorry. But you need to stay awake. Think of Henry."

"Henry." JJ gasped out. New tears filled her eyes as she thought of her little boy. Was he okay? Did he have another seizure?

Her minded wouldn't rest. It spun with thoughts of her son in pain and sick. God, she hoped he was okay.

She had to stay awake for him, for her baby boy. She needed to see him again, to make sure he was okay.

Twenty more minutes passed, and the storm finally began to die down. The detective's phone beeped as it regained its signal. He quickly called for an ambulance.

Meanwhile, Reid pulled his phone out and called Hotch. "Hey Reid, you're on speaker. Where are you?" Hotch answered.

"We're in a storm cellar just outside where the unsub was stationed. The victim is fine. We're going to need another car. I'm pretty sure ours got swept up in the tornado." Reid responded.

"What about you guys? Is everyone alright?" Hotch asked through the phone.

Reid hesitated before answering. Hotch picked up on it. "Who is it?" He asked, his voice lowering.

Reid took a deep breath before continuing. "It's JJ." Reid could hear Emily's sharp intake of breath through the phone.

"How bad?" She asked him nervously. "It's not good." He responded.

Back at the station, Hotch's heart dropped at Reid's tone of voice. "How long?" Hotch asked him in a low voice.

Reid's eyes drifted over to JJ's pale form with Morgan hovering over her. She was sweating now, her hair stuck to her forehead. She panted as she clenched her jaw and tried to breathe through the pain. The pool of blood beneath her was still expanding, although slower than before. "Best case scenario? Five minutes." He answered darkly.

Emily's hand covered her mouth as her eyes began to water. Rossi's forehead creased with worry lines and Hotch look haunted.

Just when Hotch was about to speak again, they heard muffled yelling coming from Morgan. "JJ! JJ open your eyes! Come on, don't do this to me! JJ!" Morgan's panicked voice came through the phone.

Before anyone could say anything, Reid's distressed voice came through the phone. "I have to go." He hung up abruptly.

"Reid!" Emily shouted, but he didn't hear her. He had already hung up.

Without a word, they dropped everything they were doing and hurried to the hospital, hoping that JJ made it there.

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Back in the cellar, JJ had drifted off again, but this time, no matter how much Morgan pressed on her wound, she wouldn't wake up. She was unconscious.

Morgan was panicking. He didn't know what to do, how he could help her. Even Reid couldn't think of anything. Morgan reached forward and pressed his fingers against her neck. He was relieved to find a weak thump beneath his fingers.

Thankfully in that moment, the paramedics arrived. They quickly but carefully put her on the stretcher and loaded her into the ambulance. Before they could leave, Morgan hopped in the back.

Reid called the rest of the team to tell them that JJ was on her way to the hospital. He couldn't go anywhere until a car arrived, though, since theirs was destroyed in the tornado.

Reid looked around him. It was a miracle that the ambulance had even been able to make it through the debris on the ground. There was barely a clear path to drive through.

Just then Hotch pulled up in an SUV. He got out and jogged over to Reid. "Come on, we need to meet Emily and Rossi at the hospital." Reid followed him to the vehicle as well as the detective and victim, who's leg was injured during his time with the unsub.

Hotch drove them all to the hospital. He often had to swerve to avoid things in the road, but eventually, they drove out of the storm's range and the road was clear.

When they finally arrived, Reid and Hotch made their way to the waiting room while the detective went to get the victim checked out.

When they got there, they found Emily, Rossi, and Morgan all sitting in chairs. Hotch approached Morgan, who didn't even seem to notice him.

He was shocked to see that Morgan was covered with JJ's blood. His hands were completely soaked, and his shirt had streaks of it on the fabric. He was staring at the wall opposite of him, his eyes glazed over.

"Morgan?" Hotch tried to get his attention. He didn't even blink, just continued to stare off into space.

Hotch tried again. "Morgan." He said again, touching his shoulder.

Morgan snapped out of it and looked up at Hotch. "How was she?" Hotch asked him. Morgan's eyes moistened. "She stopped breathing in the ambulance. They were still trying to revive her as they wheeled her into the OR." He said, his voice cracking.

Hotch's eyes burned at the revelation. He turned to Reid. "Why don't you go with Morgan to get cleaned up?" He said, not exactly asking.

Reid nodded, and surprisingly, Morgan got up without a fight and followed Reid to the bathroom.

When they were gone, Hotch sat down heavily in a chair. "She'll be okay, right?" Emily asked, a vulnerability in her voice that no one had ever heard before. Hotch looked over at her. Her eyes were red and she was nervously biting her nails. "I don't know." He answered honestly, his voice full of emotion.

She bowed her head, avoiding eye contact. If anyone saw her eyes, they would see the tears that we threatening to fall.

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In the bathroom, Morgan stood over the sink, washing his hands under a stream of scalding water. The blood had dried on, making it difficult to wash off.

Reid stood behind him, leaning against the wall. He worriedly stared at Morgan's tense back. "Are you okay?" He asked him.

Morgan shut of the sink and pulled a paper towel out of its holder. He added some soapy water to it and tried to scrub the blood out of his light gray shirt. Reid watched as he continued to scrub determinedly at the streaks of red that were soaked into the fabric.

"You know that's not going to come out." Reid said. Morgan stopped scrubbing and hung his head. "I know." He replied in a low voice.

Reis studied Morgan's figure. His shoulders were slouched, and he looked as if he had been awake for twenty four hours straight with the amount of baggage under his eyes.

Morgan rubbed a hand down his face and looked up, his eyes haunted. "In that ambulance…it was awful, man. She was so pale, and her lips were tinted blue." Morgan blinked away tears. "As we got closer to the hospital, I was more and more hopeful that she would make it, that she would be okay. And then she stopped breathing."

Reid gulped back a sob as Morgan recounted his story. Only he and Morgan knew just how severely JJ was hurt, and they witnessed her pain firsthand. In the beginning, he wasn't sure that she was going to make it with all of the blood she was losing. But then the ambulance arrived, and his spirits had risen because he thought that she would be okay. But knowing that she had died in the ambulance, and that they were still trying to revive her even as they wheeled her into the hospital was enough for all of his hope to shatter.

He knew the odds of someone surviving that type of injury. If they got help immediately, then sure, the person would most likely be fine.

But JJ had gone almost an hour without medical attention.

The odds were stacked against them, against her. It was very unlikely that she would live, and Morgan and Reid knew that better than anyone else.

Reid didn't know what he could say to Morgan to comfort him, to make the situation any less unbearable. So instead, he just pulled him into a hug.

Morgan didn't try to pull away, didn't say it was girlish for two men to be hugging each other. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Reid's lanky form and held him tight.

"She'll make it." Reid whispered.

The two men pulled away from each other. Morgan wipe the tears that were on his face. Neither of them were embarrassed for showing their emotions. In fact, it only made them stronger.

It's what made them a family.

They nodded their appreciation at each other and without another word, they left the bathroom and headed for the waiting room.

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The rest of the team sat in the waiting room, silent, except for the occasional sniffs coming from Garcia. No one spoke as Reid and Morgan reentered the room and took their seats.

Everyone was in their own worlds, so they were startled when a voice shook them out of their reveries. "Jennifer Jareau?" The man called out.

Hotch stood immediately, the rest of the team following his lead. "I'm Dr. Grayson, I operated on Jennifer." The man introduced himself. Hotch shook the hand that he reached out.

"Aaron Hotchner, I am her superior and colleague. How is she?"

The doctor flipped a page on the clipboard he was holding. "When Jennifer arrived, she was in bad condition. She had been impaled with what looked like wooden fencing. It was lodged in her upper thigh, severing her femoral artery." He glanced down at the clipboard again. "I was informed that Jennifer could not receive medical attention due to a storm?" Grayson looked up for confirmation.

Hotch gave it to him. "Yes, that is correct. The weather conditions delayed cell service for about an hour."

Grayson nodded. "I see. Well, due to that long period of time before being treated, Jennifer lost a substantial amount of blood. With that kind of injury, she should have died within minutes of receiving the injury." He paused before continuing. "But Agents Reid and Morgan increased her chances of survival significantly by sitting her up so that blood flow would travel slower, and by making the makeshift tourniquet. If you two hadn't done what you did, there was not the slightest chance that Jennifer would've lived until medical assistance arrived."

The team turned collectively to Reid and Morgan, their thankfulness showing in their eyes. They nodded in unison, accepting the praise.

Dr. Grayson continued. "However, her injury was severe, and with that kind of trauma, Jennifer fell unconscious and in the ambulance, she eventually stopped breathing. Luckily, she made it to the hospital just in time, and with a lot of effort, we were able to revive her. She was sent to surgery, where myself and other surgeons repaired her femoral artery. We also reset her femur, as the debris had broken it as well."

He looked up at the team. "The surgery was successful, and Jennifer is now in recovery." Everyone sighed in relief. He continued. "Instead of what could've been fatal, it looks like Jennifer could be checking out in a couple of days."

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And true to his word, JJ was checked out four days later. Since she had woken up, she had been feeling better every day, although she was far from 100%. She was sporting a huge cast that covered her whole leg, and had a pair of crutches to match.

She had been cleared to fly, so the whole team was scheduled to take off in an hour and a half. Her paperwork was finally complete, and Morgan entered her hospital room pushing a wheelchair in front of me.

JJ groaned, and Morgan chuckled at her response. "Do I have to?" She whined childishly. Her response just made Morgan grin wider. "Oh yes. In you go." He said, motioning to the chair.

JJ huffed and stood up slowly, balancing on one leg because she wasn't supposed to put a lot of pressure on her injured leg. She hobbled over to the chair and sat down, looking up at Morgan.

"There, I'm in the chair. Now can we please get out of here?"

Morgan outright laughed at that and shook his head. He wheeled her out of the room and into the hall, heading for the exit.

Just before they reached the door, with the rest of the team waiting outside with the SUV's, Morgan stopped the chair. JJ was about to protest when she saw the look on his face. Instead, she decided to let him say what he had to.

His expression grew serious as he looked down at her. He dropped his gaze before starting. "JJ, I cannot express how sorry I am for letting this happen to you. I should've been paying more attention to you when we were out in that tornado, and I'm sorry that I couldn't get you to safety in time. And I'm sorry for having to hurt you even more." He hung his head lower at the memory of her screams when he had pushed down on her wound to keep her awake.

JJ studied Morgan's form. His posture spoke volumes about his feelings, and the fact that he couldn't make eye contact with her showed how ashamed he was of himself.

"Morgan." JJ spoke in a stern tone, causing him to look up at her. When she had his full attention, she began.

"In no way, shape, or form was this" she motioned to her cast "your fault. It could've happened to any of us. It just happened to be me. You can't blame yourself for being distracted either. We were in the middle of a tornado for Christ's sake. And as for "hurting" me, if you didn't do what you did, we both know that I would have never woken up. Derek, the only reason that I am still breathing is you. _You_ saved me. _You_ are the reason that I get to go home and see my boys tonight. You, Derek. This was not your fault, and if you even think that for a second, then you need to get your head out of your ass and hear what I'm saying, because it's all true."

A shaky laugh fell out of his mouth at her last line. He straightened up and inconspicuously wiped a hand across his eyes. Leave it to JJ to make him cry. Leaning down, he gave her a hug, to which she returned heartily. "Thank you." He whispered into her ear. JJ smiled and patted his cheek.

And with that, Morgan wheeled JJ out of the door, and to the rest of the team.

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Six hours later, their flight had landed and the team was now back in Virginia. JJ had slept most of the way since Emily had been so gracious to give up the couch for her.

She was once again alone with Morgan as he drove her home. Will had been informed of the situation, and was waiting anxiously for her return, along with Henry.

They rode in a comfortable silence, and a few minutes later, Morgan pulled up to the curb outside of JJ's house. Before she could say anything, he was already out of the vehicle and opening her door for her. She smiled at him and carefully got out, using her crutched for support.

Morgan wanted to walk her to the door, but JJ refused. He complied, knowing there was no arguing with JJ. He started to walk back to the driver's side of the SUV when he heard JJ call his name. "Morgan." He turned back around to face her.

JJ stared directly at him. "Remember what I said." Morgan nodded and gave her a smile. He got into the vehicle, and with a nod from JJ, he drove away.

She watched the SUV fade into the distance for a little while longer before making her way into her house.

As soon as she stepped inside, she heard an enthusiastic "Mommy!" as Henry came out of nowhere and energetically, but gently, hugged her non-injured leg. She moved one hand from her crutches and rested it on his head.

Will came rushing into the room and stopped in front of her. His hands hovered over her body as if he didn't know where he could touch her. Laughing, JJ dropped her crutches and wrapped her arms around her husband in a full on hug. He returned it, sighing a relieved sigh into her shoulder.

The three of them stood there, just hugging. When they finally pulled away from each other, JJ looked at her boys, her eyes shining.

"Dorothy definitely got one thing right." JJ said, smiling. Will gave her a quizzical look and tilted his head. "What?" He asked, confused. JJ grinned and cupped his face with her hands.

"There really is no place like home."

 **Please leave me a review and thanks for reading!**


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